


hey, i just met you, and this is crazy, but...

by their_dark_materials



Category: Emmerdale, robron
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Because Andy can be a tit, Fake Proposal, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, First Meetings, M/M, POV Robert Sugden, Pining, mild biphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 12:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15509529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/their_dark_materials/pseuds/their_dark_materials
Summary: “If you’re so fine marrying another man, why not propose to the next one through that door?”Robert blinks at him, unsure if it's a joke or not. But one look at Andy’s face and it’s clear that it’s not.Or, university student Robert Sugden proposes to his crush, Aaron Dingle on a bet.





	hey, i just met you, and this is crazy, but...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littlelooneyluna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlelooneyluna/gifts).



He doesn’t know what surprises him least. That Andy can’t wrap his head around the concept of bisexuality. Or that he thinks it’s just a phase, a silly cry for attention on his part.

All he knows is that if you open up the dictionary to the word “Regret,” you’ll find a picture of Robert Sugden as he’s sat now: back home for his university summer holidays, face in his hands, fingers steepled in his hair, and eyes fixed to the pub back wall in a thousand yard stare.

“So, you’re fine havin’ sex with a _bloke_?” Andy asks, still unable to get past the idea.

Robert thinks about the fellow second-year whose bed he’d spent the night in just last week; all tall, tan, and made of lean muscle. He wishes he were there right now, practising his halting, broken Swedish. But he just bites his tongue, focusing on the matter at hand instead.

“Yes, Andy,” he replies, amidst the stirrings of a slowly building stress headache. “Who knows? Might even _marry_ one someday.”

He means for it to shut down the conversation for good, a verbal sock in Andy’s refusing-to-shut-up gob. But then his brother unloads his latest round of booze-induced lunacy, and Robert’s already-tired brain is left struggling to compute.

“If you’re so fine marrying another man, why not propose to the next one through that door?”

Robert blinks at him, unsure if it's a joke or not. But one look at Andy’s face and it’s clear that it’s not.

“You’re on,” he accepts blithely, beer-fueled irritation rising to the fore.

“Great,” Andy declares, oozing that special brand of Sugden smugness. “A guy’s just walked in.”

Robert turns to look. His stomach drops instantly. That image in the dictionary updates to one of his face right now: eyes wide, mouth agape, his cheeks turning a furious shade of red.

Aaron. Fucking. Dingle.

He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t noticed him since his move to the village a few months ago; all grease-covered overalls whilst fixing cars in his uncle’s garage in the mornings, and quiet hoodie-clad scowling at his mother’s pub patrons in the evenings. Always firm, never yielding; always ever himself.

And now Robert’s going to ruin the chances of any friendship they could’ve had.

Still. When stuck between the rock that is Andy’s unrelenting ignorance, and the hard place that is the potential receiving end of Aaron’s fist, Robert’s only ever going to choose the latter. Because at least this way he stands a chance.

Andy’s laughter rings in his ears as he slides out of the booth and walks over to the bar where Aaron’s stood sipping his drink. Taking a deep breath, he steps into the empty space beside him, the proximity already spiking his heart rate.

“Hey, uh, Aaron, right?” Robert asks, sweat pooling at the nape of his neck.

“Yeah,” Aaron replies, turning to face him. Any gathered confidence instantly flees Robert’s person.

Nevertheless, something seems to soften between them. Not that he really notices, too busy getting lost in the blue of Aaron’s eyes, a tiny detail that all his stolen glances over this last week haven’t quite prepared him for. His unruly heart skips a beat.

“Robert Sugden,” he introduces himself, nervous fingers picking up the paper straw wrapper in front of him and twisting it into shapes for want of something to do. “Think you know my brother, Andy.”

Aaron doesn’t say anything. Just remains standing there, his mouth a thin line.

His lips look softer and more inviting up close, but Robert shakes away the thought as quickly as it appears. Pining over straight guys is a thing he’d prefer to leave in the lower recesses of his youth.

But for one lonesome heartbeat, every fibre of his being wonders: What _would_ it be like to kiss Aaron Dingle?

 _Well, it’s now or never_.

“I know we’ve only just met,” he begins, proud that his voice is holding as confident and steady as it is. “But, would you want to marry me?”

His insides collapse and his cheeks burn up moments after the words leave his mouth, but for some dumb reason, his hands aren’t listening, already holding up the makeshift paper ring they’ve since fashioned.

Aaron’s gaze flickers down to Robert’s shabby, recycled offering, before looking over his shoulder at Andy’s overly amused grin. He seems to consider it.

Robert braces himself, already expecting the worst.

Only something magical happens: Aaron Dingle looks back up at him and shrugs.

“Sure. Why not?” He answers, after what feels like a day and an age. “Not doing anything else tonight. Might as well get engaged.”

Robert can’t believe his ears, starts to question if he’s awake — or even alive.

“Go on then,” Aaron says, nodding at Robert’s little paper ring like he’s used to being proposed to each time he walks into a bar. He holds out his left hand expectantly. “Better make it official.”

There’s something about the way Aaron says it, so overly serious and obviously teasing, that a wave of warmth spreads across Robert’s chest, stretching up into his head and reaching down into his toes. It threatens to split him open as laughter bubbles up from within him, a result of increasing disbelief.

Still, he nods and does as he’s told, sliding the flimsy paper trinket onto Aaron’s finger.

“So,” Aaron says, his shoulder lightly bumping into Robert’s as he brushes past. “Let’s go tell your brother the happy news.”

:::::

Andy’s face is a picture of surprise when they return to the booth. Not that Robert can focus on it too much; Aaron’s squeezed into this narrow space beside him, their legs pressed flush up against each other in a way that’s almost daring him to rest a hand on his thigh.

So he turns his attention to whatever foolish thing is going to come out of Andy’s mouth next.

“You’re really alright with all this?” Andy says, directing the question to Aaron. “Marrying another bloke?”

It’s clear from his tone just how unbelievable he finds this whole situation. (Robert understands. He never imagined that he’d be fake-engaged to Aaron Dingle, and yet here they are, living their wildest dreams.)

With Aaron’s inscrutable gaze fixed elsewhere, Robert’s now free to admire everything else their all-too-brief encounter at the bar hadn’t allowed him to — like the way his closely trimmed beard hugs his steel-cut jaw.

He’s contemplating what it would be like to run his fingers across it, when Aaron replies, “Well, I would have to be, wouldn’t I? Seein’ as I’m engaged to one.”

Robert doesn’t bother to hide his smile at that, his gaze falling to the hand laying across the table between them, the evidence of his improvised handiwork much louder and more noticeable than an actual wedding band.

 _That’s what it would look like if I married another man_.

Something deep inside him settles, like receiving a confirmation you’ve been waiting on for a while, the tiny email notification of his heart going  _bing_.

It passes and he returns to the conversation.

“Besides,” Aaron’s saying, looking Andy square in the eye. “What’s so wrong with that?”

Robert’s full-on grins as he decides that Aaron’s next hundred pints are all on him.

“Well,” Andy waffles. “It’s all a bit…”

“Gay?” Aaron fires back, challenge ringing clear in his voice.

That wipes the smirk off Andy’s face in a way Robert’s been trying to do so all night. If he hadn’t proposed marriage to Aaron earlier, he definitely would right now. Instead, he sips his drink before resting his right hand on the table, the back of it grazing Aaron’s, a small part of himself leaning into this fake marriage fantasy.

It feels so nice he almost misses Andy’s next question.

“Okay, but what do you think about _bisexuals_?” Andy asks, clearly presenting what he thinks is his ace in the hole.

In many ways it is.

Robert’s stomach sinks further the longer Aaron takes to answer.

“Why? You askin’ me out?” Aaron retorts, taking a sip of his beer. “Sorry mate, but I’m taken.”

As if to hammer home the point, Aaron slides his hand into Robert’s, giving it a warm and seemingly affectionate squeeze. A million fireworks go off in Robert’s brain at the contact, and even though he knows it’s all for show, he can’t stop staring at it, a silent beauty in the gesture that he hadn’t been anticipating.

_This is what it would feel like to hold my husband’s hand._

He’s so captivated by it, he doesn’t notice Aaron speaking again.

When he looks back up, he sees that Aaron’s gaze is trained on Andy, only his words seem aimed at _Robert_ , touch-warmed fingers already giving his hand another squeeze.

“Doesn’t really matter. Love is love, innit?”

He wishes again that Aaron Dingle wasn’t straight, his thoughts still revolving around those beard-framed lips. It’s then that the tide turns, as it seems that Aaron hasn’t finished speaking.

“You know Andy,” he says thoughtfully, the firm confidence in his hand filtering through to Robert. “You sound a little obsessed. Almost like you’re in denial. Something you want to tell us?”

“What? No!” Andy sputters furiously, a blush staining his cheeks red. “I just think it’s weird, that’s all! I mean, kissing another _bloke_?!”

Aaron raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “You mean, like this?”

As much as he hears and understands what Aaron’s saying, Robert still finds that he’s wholly unprepared for what happens next as Aaron slowly turns towards him, his gaze flicking down to Robert’s lips, before coming back up to his eyes again, leaning forward inch by shattering inch…

It’s Robert who closes that final gap, taking Aaron’s lips into his at long last.

Everything after that is a blur as he closes his eyes and holds his breath, which turns out to be a terrible idea, because Aaron pretty much takes all of it away, leaving him panting and gasping for more when they finally pull apart.

When he opens his eyes again Aaron’s gazing back at him, a flicker of nervousness in them hidden once again behind a curtain of confidence.

“You always kiss strange men like this?” Robert asks in a fluster, having finally found his voice again.

Aaron smirks, unashamed without a care. “Just my fiancé.”

A nervous laugh explodes out of Robert’s chest, Aaron’s response a raspy bark that causes his own smile to grow wider still as they both sit together and laugh. When they eventually come back down to Earth and look across the table, Andy’s gone.

Robert sighs, knowing he owes Aaron an explanation. “Came out to him tonight. He’s not taking it very well.”

He notices that Aaron hasn’t moved his hand, left it clasped in his for the time being.

Chuckling nervously he says, “At least now you don’t have to pretend you enjoy kissing men, eh?”

Aaron hums non-committedly, shooting him one of his patented half smiles. “Don’t have to pretend, do I? Seein’ as I’m gay.”

And just like that, the floor drops out from under Robert and he’s falling down headfirst into a swell of giddiness, the blood rushing to his ears, as the butterflies in his belly transform into fireworks at this most magnificent of discoveries.

Aaron Dingle likes _men_.

“So…” Robert ventures nervously, the smile refusing to leave his lips as his eyes fall onto that bit of paper still wrapped around Aaron’s finger. “Thanks for the, uh, assist.”

When he chances a glance at Aaron, he finds that he’s staring at their hands too, like the sight of their interlocked fingers is something he’s noticing for the first time as well.

A second later he looks up at Robert and smiles.

“Next time though, maybe try asking me out first.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was for the lovely Fangirlqueen87, who submitted the prompt: 'marrying you/proposing to you for a bet but I want it to be for real.' Hopefully, I did it as much justice as this wonderful prompt (and you) deserve in the parameters given. (Apologies for being so late with it btw, and for going so wildly over the word limit. This whole thing was a really educational learning exercise.)
> 
> There's a lot of things I wanted to play with in here (because I'm a nut like that): Aaron's 'I'll remember that for when I stop being gay' line,' Robert being more open with his sexuality and desires for a future, an alternate first meeting (under strange circumstances), and just Robert and Andy's relationship as brothers. Hopefully, I did all of that justice. (I especially tried to be as kind to Andy as I could, but given that it's Robert's POV, it couldn't be that much.)
> 
> Apologies for the biphobia on Andy's part, but something needed to get the plot going. Hopefully, I reined it in as much as possible. 
> 
> But if you have any other thoughts, comments, questions or concerns, please drop a line below, or come find me on Tumblr under rustandruin.


End file.
